Minutes subject to approval at the next meeting Community Council Chair Clerk Patrick Fordyce Josie McMillan Annsbrae Rockfield Burrafirth Haroldswick Unst,

Unst, Shetland 0 Tel: 01957 711554 Email: [email protected]

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 24th February 2020 at 6.30pm in the School, Music Huts

Present: Patrick Fordyce, Chair David Cooper John Peterson

Attending: Frances Browne, Community Involvement and Development Officer PC Angela Manson Josie McMillan, Clerk

01/02/20 Apologies: Claire Priest, Vice Chair Caroline Hunter Janice Priest Hazel Spence Gordon Thomson Julie Thomson Alec Priest, Councillor (ex-officio) Duncan Simpson, North Isles Councillor (ex-officio) Ryan Thomson, North Isles Councillor (ex-officio) Michael Duncan, Community Council Liaison Officer

Patrick asked PC Manson if she would like to go first so that she could catch an earlier ferry. She agreed.

11/02/20 A.O.C.B. 11/01/20.1 Police Report PC Manson said that there had been no reported incidents in Unst since Christmas. There had been damage reported to a fence before Christmas. She said that she is planning to be in Unst more in the coming months carrying out renewal checks on alarms.

02/01/20 Minutes from the Last Meeting The minutes from the meeting held on Monday 13th January 2020 were proposed by Patrick and seconded by John.

03/01/20 Declaration of Interest There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes subject to approval at the next meeting

04/01/20 Matters Arising from last minutes 13/07/19.5 Easting Kirkyard Grass cutting at Kirkyards is on the agenda for the Association of Shetland Community Council’s meeting in March, which Patrick and David are going to attend.

09/12/19.2 Unst Water – Burrafirth/Haroldswick repairs It was agreed that the Clerk will email to find out if there has been any progress with this.

05/02/20 Unst Partnership (UP) Update. Gordon emailed in the UP report. He said they were turned down by Shetland Charitable Trust in their bid for funding of a Recycling Centre as they felt it did not reduce inequalities or promote inclusion. UP are now going to look at other funders and have requested a quote from the Show Committee about an area of land to the north of the Nissen hut track below Hagdale as a site for this. The final Skip Day for this financial year is on Saturday 7th March, 10.45-1pm. A new Skip Scheme will go ahead on roughly the same lines. Local businesses are being consulted on the 2020 tourist map and whether they want to advertise in it. Anyone wishing to place an advert should contact the UP office or email [email protected]. The Shop continues to do good trade on Thursday and Saturdays. UP have agreed in principle to be the local organisation to purchase the Uyeasound Kirk as a community building, if a community organisation is required and the necessary funding can be found. The next meeting about the Uyeasound Kirk is on Tuesday 3rd March at 6.30pm in the Uyeasound Hall. Patrick was asked at the last meeting if the Community Council would support the group working on finding a solution for the future of the building. As there were only three members present this will be discussed again at the next meeting.

06/02/20 Community Involvement Update Frances said that she has been involved with the proposed UP Community Recycling Hub and the Uyeasound Kirk project. She has also been helping the Unst Heritage Trust with preparing the paperwork and interviewing for a new administration support worker.

07/02/20 Application for Donation There were no applications for donations.

08/02/20 Application for planning

Planning Ref: 2020/007/PPF Proposal: Enlargement of hatchery including triple apex portal framed building Address: Quoys Hatchery, Burrafirth, Unst, Shetland ZE2 9EQ Applicant: Mr J McCulloch Date of Consultation: 28 January 2020

There were no objections.

09/02/20 Correspondence 09/02/20.1 ASCC Meeting 10th March 2020 Patrick and David are going to attend this meeting at the Town Hall, .

09/02/20.2 Hjaltland Housing – Unst Ian Bray, Head of Housing & Customer Services for Hjaltland Housing Association Ltd, emailed in relation to their Housing stock at Setters Hill Estate. He said that they have sixteen x 3 bedroom properties, all with integrated garages. There has been a low turn-over of stock over

Minutes subject to approval at the next meeting

the last few years, however, the last two properties to be advertised, during the Autumn of 2019, experienced very low levels of demand. Mr Bray explained that although the properties were re-let, it was a sign of the general level of demand for the area. Their properties in Unst have a rent level 30% less than properties within our central areas. He said that as an Association, they are keen to explore alternative options, where there is no demand for domestic leases. They have a leasing policy, which permits leasing accommodation to a company, in certain scenarios. There was a discussion about this. Members believe that with the Shetland Space Centre going ahead there could be an increased demand for housing on Unst. It was decided to email Mr Bray and explain about this.

09/02/20.3 Shetland Space Centre (SSC) Update Frank Strang attended a meeting with the Community Council on Monday 17th February. He explained that he had secured private funding of £2 million towards establishing the Space Centre. Mr Strang explained that the good news stories would be released to the media over the next few days and weeks. He sees their main competition coming from Norway and Sweden, not Sutherland. SSC are setting up a local liaison committee and he said that they would like to have two representatives from the Community Council on it. There was a discussion about this wondering if this would be a conflict of interest, i.e. representing SSC and not the community as a whole. It was agreed that Patrick would write to Frank Strang asking for clarification on what the liaison group would do, and its aims and objectives etc.

09/02/20.4 SIC Ferries Meeting 17th February 2020 Patrick and Gordon attended this meeting. Frances explained that these meetings were called by the Yell Community Council as they have a lot more ferry issues. But changes to the ferries have knock on effects on . Patrick said the meeting looked at individual ferry issues. One issue raised was why the Saturday and Sunday Timetables were different. The Ferries Department were looking at ways to improve the service, without it costing any more. Patrick felt that this had been a useful meeting. A report from the meeting will be sent out within a week. The Clerk will circulate it to all members. It was agreed that it is a good thing these meetings are happening.

09/02/20.5 VE Day 75 Frances has booked the Baltasound Hall for Friday 8th May for this event. Patrick said that there is a piper, with local connections, who is willing to come up and play for this. There was a discussion about whether there could be a contribution to the cost of travel. Patrick is going to email Bruno Peake about this, saying that as piping isn’t native to Unst, we need to get someone from the mainland to play and ask if they could cover this cost. The clerk will also check with Michael Duncan if the Community Council can make a donation towards the piper’s travel. If the piper could get assistance to travel up this could be an opportunity to liaise with the schools and local churches. This will be discussed again at the next meeting.

09/02/20.6 Abandoned/Scrap Cars Members of the community have asked the Community Council what can be done about abandoned cars at Nikkavord. These have been reported to the Council but as yet nothing has been done to remove them. Members were unsure if there were cars abandoned at the Belmont ferry.

09/02/20.7 Shetland Community Benefit Fund (SCBF) 27th January and 19th February 2020 Patrick has attended both these SCBF meetings. He said that these meetings have been about finalising their constitution. Chris Bunyan, asked Patrick if he could come and speak at the next Community Council meeting. It was agreed to invite him to attend the meeting on the

Minutes subject to approval at the next meeting

23rd March 2020. There are still ongoing discussions as to how the money from the various Benefit Funds will be distributed. SCBF plan to disburse money to all Community Council areas, with more being paid to the Community Councils directly affected by the windfarm. Energy Isles have yet to finalise their distribution policy. Frank Strang, Shetland Space Centre, also mentioned a fund which will be set up to benefit the local and Shetland wide community.

10/02/20 Community Council Finances The budget for this financial year has been spent. A spreadsheet showing how the funds were allocated and spent was discussed.

11/02/20 A.O.C.B. 11/01/20.1 SIC Surface Dressing, Re-surfacing and Reconstruction Programme Details of the SIC Roads proposed surface dressing, surfacing overlays and carriageway reconstructions for the next financial year were discussed. Re-surfacing will be carried out from the Newgord Junction to at Broch, Westing. Reconstruction will be done on the Newgord Road, Westing. Surface Dressing will be done at Mailland, Baltasound; Westing Road (Newgord Junction to Turning Head); Mailand Uyeasound and Sotland, Burrafirth.

12/02/20 Date of next meeting The next meeting date is Monday 23rd March 2020 at 6.30pm in the Baltasound School, Music Hut.

Chairman: ______Date: ______

Clerk: ______